There are moments we come and there are moments that we all leave, especially when living as an expat. Not only applicable for our family, but also for some of our expat friends who live(d) in or close to Chicago. Last spring, Elja and her family were planning to move to Istanbul, so exciting!

During one of our coffee moments, she showed me a beautiful picture of her son at the Chicago bean (silver colored art sculpture in a 'bean' shape). This picture was my inspiration for the next painting so I was able to give her a decent 'good bye' present.

Lots of challenges: not only in painting another human body/figure, but also in painting the reflection of the bean. I thought this was really difficult because the reflection of the boy is having a different shape (looks like you watch yourself in the laughing mirror). I was happy with the result, I hope you too. When giving her the painting, I think Elja was surprised. Hopefully she will display it in beautiful Istanbul.

Eerste opzetSet up

Na de tweede keer schilderen, inclusief de oorspronkelijke fotoResult after the second time working on the painting

Eindresultaat thuis. Minder strepen in de bean wekt meer suggestie. En toevoeging van veel meer kleur aan de jongen die voor de bean staat laat beter zien wat echt is en wat een reflectie is.Final result at home. Less stripes in the bean results in, I think, more suggestion. And I think in adding more colors to the boy standing in front of the bean is making clear what is real and what is a reflection.

Paintings of lovely summer flowers, most of the time I love them. I wanted to try if I like them to paint as well. At least, it's not that exact and precise as my painting of the cupcakes and the painting of the cup with the spoon. And I love the colors pink and red!Technically I think the result is okay, but I didn't really enjoy the process.So, at this point no flowers for me for a while.....

Ik heb specifiek deze foto uitgekozen om te schilderen vanwege de meisjes, de kleuren van hun shirtjes/bikini en water/lucht. Eens kijken of het schilderen van water ook gaat lukken, evenals het schilderen van lichamen/figuren. Aan portretten durf ik me nog niet te wagen, vandaar een foto van hun achterkant!I decided to paint this picture because of the girls, the colors of their shirts/bikini's, and the combination of the blue water and blue sky. I was wondering if I was able to paint water (and that it looked like water) and to paint figures. I'm still not ready to paint portraits, but maybe in future. That's also the reason that I made the painting from their backs.

originele fotooriginal photo

Omdat ik voor het eerst lichamen ging schilderen had ik voor dit, vond ik althans zelf, een sublieme oplossing bedacht. Het doek was op A4 formaat, zo heb ik de foto ook op dat formaat geprint. De meisjes uitgeknipt en vervolgens ingetekend......een kind "kan de was doen".Because it was the first time painting a figure, I had the perfect solution to paint them in the right dimensions. I printed a photo in A4 size, cut out the figures and traced them on the canvas, "easy peasy" as my kids say...

Het resultaat....het mooiste werkje tot nu toe al vind ik het zelf. Eentje die voorlopig op de schoorsteenmantel blijft staan en misschien zelfs wel een echt lijstje krijgt...And the final result, another good painting. One that I put on the mantelpiece and maybe will get a frame (and yes, it did got a frame and I gave it as a present to my mum-in-law)

Intekenen, blokken kleuren...de eerste laag zit eropUnderpainting

Inkleuren....Maar het licht/donker in de beentjes kloppen nog niet helemaalColoring, but the light/darks in the legs still need some improvement

dinsdag 12 juni 2012

In het kader van de jaarlijkse Old Town Triangle Art Fair en de Student Show kunnen de studenten (waaronder dus ikzelf) 1 stuk exposeren. Maar naast dat ene stuk wilde onze lerares Marie ook een gezamenlijk werk ophangen.For the Old Town Triangle Art Fair and the student exhibition 2012, students of the Old Town Art Association are allowed to show only one of their work. But next to displaying this painting, our teacher Marie wanted to create and display a painting made by all of us.

Het idee was om een bekend schilderij die in het Chicago Art Institute hangt na te schilderen, opgedeeld in een aantal doeken van identieke grote. Marie kwam met een voorstel en na stemming hadden we volgens mij unaniem gekozen om "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" van Seurat na te schilderen. Hij heeft hier van 1884-1886 aan gewerkt.The idea was to copy one of Chicago's most famous paintings that's permanently on display in the Chicago Art Institute. Purpose was to divide a famous painting in separate pieces of the same size. Marie proposed a couple of paintings and after our votes it turned out that we were going to copy Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte". He worked on this painting from 1884-1886.

Originele Schilderij van SeuratOriginal Seurat painting

Dit is op zich een erg leuke oefening. Een andere wijze van mengen van verf. Niet zozeer al op het palet, maar door verschillende kleuren stipjes dichtbij elkaar te zetten krijg je de illusie van een bepaalde kleur. In het kunstjargon heet dit pointillisme.I thought that this was a great choice and that it was going to be lots of fun to practice. Seurat mixed his colors completely different than I do in class. He didn't mix his colors on the palette, but instead he dotted different colors of paint on the canvas, really close to each other. Optical it looks like e.g. orange, but it turned out that he used yellow and red dots. The color you see is a kind of illusion. Within the art scene this is called pointillism.

Het totale schilderij werd in 12 gelijke delen verdeeld en iedereen kreeg een stukje toegewezen om op een doek van 12x12 inch na te schilderen. Ik was de gelukkige die de linkerbovenhoek kreeg toebedeeld, met een zeilbootje, een enorme boom, een hoofd van een vrouw en roeibootjes, etc.Seurat's painting is divided in 12 equal pieces, each 12x12 inch big and everybody got randomly one square to paint. I was the lucky person who was allowed to paint the left upper part of the painting, a piece with a little sailing boat, an enormous tree, a woman's head, rowing boat, etc. I felt lucky, because this part could have been a separate painting and it was nothing really strange (like only a part of a woman's skirt and part of the donkey).

Iedereen ging voor zichzelf aan de slag en deed het merendeel van het werk naast een ander werk waar ze op dat moment mee bezig waren. Anders werd het ook wel erg intensief, want ik werd in ieder geval knettergek van al die puntjes zetten.Everybody started on his own and most of my work was done painting this square next to another painting I was working on. Otherwise it was going to be really time consuming, and I was turning really crazy by putting all those dots down on the canvas. One hour a day was more then enough!

Het schilderij is opgebouwd met als eerste een underpainting: het inschetsen van de figuren en en inblokken van kleuren. En daarna begon het stipjes zetten. Dit heb ik in meerdere lagen gedaan. Hoe meer stipjes, des te beter het effect werd. Af en toe moest er natuurlijk even worden afgestemd met degene die naast mij en onder mij het paneel aan het schilderen waren.I started my part with an underpainting: a drawing of all the figures and blocking all the colors in. After that, I started with dotting.....and dotting.....and more dotting. I dotted several layers , the more dots the better it was going to look. From time to time I matched my square with the squares next to me on the painting and adjusted some of the colors (of the tree) and the place of the figures (e.g., the woman's head).

Het resultaat mag er zijn. Niet alleen van mijn deel. Maar vooral om alle delen bij elkaar te zien maakt het spectaculair om naar te kijken. Van veraf herken je gelijk het schilderij van Seurat en denk je dat het een kopie is. Kijk je er echter aandachtiger naar, dan zie je dat ieder paneel anders geschilderd is, lijven/bomen niet geheel op elkaar aansluiten, verschillende pointillisme technieken zijn gebruikt/toegepast, kleuren soms verschillen, etc. En dat maakt het hele schilderij erg interessant om naar te kijken!I think the result is pretty amazing! Apart, all the 12 paintings are nothing really special but when you put them all together it was looking really spectacular instantly, I never expected that! If you look from a certain distance you immediately recognize that we made a painting after Seurat's, but coming towards the painting and observing all the details its getting really interesting to look at. Although we all used the pointillism technique, each of us is still having a different style. And it is just so funny to explore the whole piece, not every body matches with a head, the same skirt is having different colors, trees have strange formed trunks, etc, but it still worked out really good when all the pieces were put together.

Ilan taking a picture

12 squares of 12x12 put together

Part of the exhibit

Tijdens het schilderen ervan heb ik nog een bezoek gebracht aan het Art Institute om het echte schilderij nog eens goed op me in te laten werken. Ik zou echt nooit kunnen wat die man heeft gedaan, wat een enorm doek en wat veel stippen! Het viel me toen wel op dat niet het hele doek gestipt is, sommige stukken zijn gewoon met kleur ingeblokt (meer normale verfstijl) en regelmatig heeft hij ook gebruik gemaakt van kleine streepjes.While painting the picture I also visited the Art Institute to see the original painting and study it a bit more on the details. I could never do what that man Seurat did, what an enormous canvas size and dots, dots, dots, all over! I think I turned crazy if I had to paint so many dots...I was a bit surprised that not the complete canvas was covered with dots, some parts of the painting are basically painted the regular way and it was not only dots but also little lines he used.

Seurat's painting

detail of legs

Left upper part of Seurat's painting
That's the part I did

En nu hangt het schilderij in de student show expositie van de Old Town Triangle Art Fair en wordt het gebruikt om tijdens het openingsfeest te veilen. Ik ben erg benieuwd naar de opbrengst want er waren zeker een aantal gegadigden die het wilden kopen....(wordt vervolgd...) en de opbrengst komt ten goede aan de Old Town Triangle Organization.And now the painting is on display during the Student show and the Old Town Triangle Art Fair. And we decided to sell the piece, all revenues are for the Old Town Association (ps the piece was used in the silent auction during the opening party and it was sold for over $625. I actually think that's not really a lot of money taking into account the size of the painting of 36x48 inch....)

vlnr Ilan, Mary, ikzelf, Willemijn, Barbara, Marie, Hana

And this was the text accompanying the painting:

“After Georges Seurat’sSunday
Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”:
that’s how the art world says it when you copy someone else’s
painting. Twelve members of Marie
Kirk Burke’s Tuesday oils class at the Triangle Art Center just completed such
a work, piece by piece. First
Marie took a poster of the Art Institute’s beloved centerpiece, trimmed a bit
off the edges then divided the 6 ft 10 in x 10 ft 1 in
painting into squares which were distributed randomly to the students who had
instructions to purchase 12 in x 12 in canvases and paint what was on their
square. Were there any
restrictions on paint color?
Absolutely not. The point
was to paint the squares as each student saw them, but to follow the forms as
closely as possible. And did the
students collaborate? Of course
they did. Over the course of 10
weeks, seeing each other every Tuesday at the Triangle Center, the students
became good friends who share painting tips and critique each other’s
paintings. Sometimes a piece done
early in the term served as a useful guide to the continuation of a seawall or
the tail of the dog. And often it
was obvious that none of the students had exactly the same “palette” on hand. But when Marie assembled the squares
for the first time in mid-May, the students and the Triangle staff were
astonished to see the results of the finished work. The small differences in painting style, in depth of color
and even the lines of some of the figures create a charm that the original poster
sorely lacks. Why? When Seurat originally completed the
painting, the reviews all mentioned the bright, vibrant colors. Unfortunately, the paints of the day
were made from untested non-organic pigments that did not pass the test of time
so the original has faded spots and some areas where the pigment has
darkened. So the Old Town version
is far more traditional in its fresh, colorful approach to a summer Sunday
afternoon. While the project began
as simply a student exercise, with some vague idea of donating the finished
piece, the timing was perfect for the Art Fair Silent Auction, a great way to
share the fun of the project while simultaneously helping to support the
benefactor of the art classes.

Naschrift: tot mijn verrassing was mijn deel van het schilderij gebruikt in de Old Town communicatie rondom de opening van de Student expositie (toch een beetje trots).Epilogue: I was surprised to read the Old Town Communication regarding the upcoming Student Exposition (and a little bit proud...). Good to see that they used my piece of painting.

ANNUAL STUDENT/FACULTY EXHIBITION

June 3 – July 3, 2012

Opening Reception: Sunday, June 3rd, 2-5pm

On Sunday, June 3rd, the Old Town Art Center opens its Annual

Student/Faculty Exhibition, featuring works by students of our Old

Town Art School. Each student is invited to submit one piece of art

from the work they created during the 2011-2012 school term.

Each of the talented art instructors of the school - including Roger

Bole, Robert Brasher, Marie Kirk Burke, Tom Francesconi, Kathleen

Newman, Didier Nolet and Kay Smith – will also display one piece

of art.

The 75 pieces on exhibit range from oil paintings to pastel paintings,

woensdag 25 april 2012

Amerika kan ik straks natuurlijk niet verlaten zonder enige cupcakes geschilderd te hebben.
Toen Marie een stilleven van cupcakes ging opzetten na de vakantie besloot ik dus om deze ook maar te gaan schilderen. Ditmaal wel zonder de grote gele mok, want daaraan had ik nog steeds een hekel na de eerste serie van lessen. Die mok kon mij gestolen worden.I can't move back to the Netherlands without having painted any cupcakes. So when, after the summer break, our teacher Marie was setting up a still life with cupcakes I decided to paint them. This time without the yellow cup that I had already painted with the spoon (my first painting), because I still didn't like that one. No yellow cup for me any more!

Achteraf gezien werd de compositie daardoor wel wat saai en is het schilderij niet geworden wat ik vooraf had gehoopt dat het zou worden. De vork is leuk gelukt (zilverwerk lukt bij mij blijkbaar wel goed), maar de cupcakes vind ik zelf wat eentonig en niet levend. Misschien moet ik ooit nog eens de achtergrondkleur wijzigen/levendiger maken of nog wat anders aan de compositie veranderen (bijvoorbeeld een lekkere groene appel met hap eruit toevoegen als een gezond evenwicht....), maar voor nu is het wat het is......
Conclusie: mijn compositie was te klein voor de maat van het doek. Ik had alles net een maat groter moeten schilderen om het interessant te houden.Looking back, leaving out the cup was not good for the composition. It was getting boring and my canvas was too big for the composition that I drew. So in the end, the result wasn't what I had expected beforehand.At least, I had some good results with the fork (it looks like I can deal pretty well with the silverware), but the cupcakes themselves are not lively and just look boring to me. Maybe I'm gonna change the background in the future, or change the composition (any suggestions are really welcome), e.g. add a green apple to it as a healthy balance;-). But for now, this is it!Conclusion: my composition was too small for the canvas size. I should have painted everything a little bit bigger to keep it more interesting. That's what I learned from it......

Hier volgen de foto's van het proces:Following are some pictures taken during the painting process: